Lewis vs McCall II . What happened?

[B-Bomber]

At the beginning, it seems to be a "normal" fight.

Round I : Lewis attempts to estabilish his jab early, keeps McCall on the outside.

Round II: Actually a rather good round for Mc Call, he manages to land a couple of good shots and has Lewis against the ropes a couple of times.

Round III : Lewis is very effective with his jab , starts to land a bit more... then this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjrGcoY2LRo

The referee for the fight, Mills Lane, stated in an interview after the match, "In the third round, he got in close, and then seemed frustrated, and then he just backed off and put his arms down. . . . I thought he was playing possum but then I saw his lips started to quiver and I thought, 'My God, is he crying?'"

What happened to McCall? Does anybody know more?

Even Lewis at a certain point has this "what the hell is going on?" kinda look.

[raskat]

McCall had big personal problems at that time. He had problems with drugs and he should never have been in the ring that night, but his team wanted to make money with him. I read Lewis' autobiography and even he said McCall's team wanted to get a big payday out of him even though they knew he was in no mental shape to fight.

[dan_cov]

He was in rehab (crack addict) and Don King took him out and I guess he had a breakdown in the ring. I don't think anybody knows for certain but there was rumours that McCall was paid off to throw the fight in order to keep Tyson vs Lewis alive.

The crying and such was actually quite common from McCall, he would often cry before fights and punch himself to psyche himself up.

[raskat]

He was in rehab (crack addict) and Don King took him out and I guess he had a breakdown in the ring. I don't think anybody knows for certain but there was rumours that McCall was paid off to throw the fight in order to keep Tyson vs Lewis alive.

The crying and such was actually quite common from McCall, he would often cry before fights and punch himself to psyche himself up.

I never heard about those rumours. Furthermore - do you think if somebody throws a fight, he would do it the way McCall looked in that fight?

[Fury]

He was just rope-a-doping before Lewis beat him so hard Mills Lane had to stop the fight.

[Sheppirino]

He was just rope-a-doping before Lewis beat him so hard Mills Lane had to stop the fight.

He said something to that effect in the post fight press conference. That it was all part of his strategy. BS. He should have never been in the ring that night in such a mental state.

[B-Bomber]

He said something to that effect in the post fight press conference. That it was all part of his strategy. BS. He should have never been in the ring that night in such a mental state.

Indeed, it is not even remotely believable.

I even got the impression that at a certain point Lewis avoided to land punches while McCall was walking around without even looking at his opponent.

I didn't know about McCall's mental issues, as funny as it was to watch this fight, it's also sad to think that this guy was put in a very dangerous situation.
He shouldn't have fought I think.

[TysonBomb]

They took McCall out of rehab for that fight

He had no chance

[Earl-Hickey]

he was on that crack

[Scott9945]

I always agreed with what Emannuel Steward said, "if McCall were winning he wouldn't have had a nervous breakdown during the fight". McCall seemed reasonably composed until he realized that this was a different Lennox Lewis he was facing.